


Working My Way Back Home

by BoyzoneTrash



Category: Boyzone (Band)
Genre: M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Sleep Deprivation, everyone is just tired, sleepy stephen, tired cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoyzoneTrash/pseuds/BoyzoneTrash
Summary: Stephen was starting to get tired. He had been sitting around in the studio since 12 PM - for the last 11 hours. This was not too unusual, because once the boys were really ‘in the zone’ they were going to be stuck in this damn building for a long time. Well, Stephen was positively surprised by their hard work and determination, but still, 11 hours was a lot and he was tired, damnit.
Relationships: Ronan Keating/Stephen Gately
Kudos: 1





	Working My Way Back Home

**Author's Note:**

> as always, we are very sorry

Stephen was starting to get tired. He had been sitting around in the studio since 12 PM - for the last 11 hours. This was not too unusual, because once the boys were really ‘in the zone’ they were going to be stuck in this damn building for a long time. Well, Stephen was positively surprised by their hard work and determination, but still, 11 hours was a lot and he was tired, damnit. Mikey had already promised they'd return home soon, but that was more than two hours ago and the crew said it depended on how long the boys would continue to keep up the ‘good work’. So slowly starting to get impatient Stephen, who was currently all alone in the break room due to a lack of work, set out to hopefully find one of his friends, hopefully not too busy to give him answers.

Dragging his feet he walked down the hallway to the rooms the rest boys should be crowding in. Leaning in the doorway of some sort of tech-room he found Keith talking to the sound producer, both giving him a short wave. He continued on into the room, spotting Mikey sitting in an armchair in the back of the room and decided to join him.

"I take it you guys are not done yet?" he sleepily looked at his friend.

"No, not yet, but I bet they'll wrap it up for the day soon", Mike smiled at him "at least I hope so".

"Yeah," an involuntary yawn interrupted his sentence "I hope so too".

Mikey chuckled at him, jokingly patting the top of his younger friend’s head, which Stephen tried to fight off - naturally failing due to not looking at where he was swinging his arms, which in turn caused him to hit the armrest a few seconds later. He let out a monotonous "ow", which caused his friend to chuckle again. Deciding "screw this" was a valuable option Stephen pulled his legs onto the sofa, resting his head on the armrest and hiding his face the crook of his elbow. He closed his eyes and let himself doze off.

After a few minutes he vaguely registered another person sitting down on the other sofa, now not only hearing Mikey’s voice, but also Keith’s. Not long after the quiet sound of the music that filled the room was slowly getting hazy in Stephen’s mind, he started to fall asleep to the somewhat calming melody.

Ronan had just finished up perfecting another line, when he was told to take a break and switch with Shane, so he left to seek out the rest of his friends. Ro found them pretty quickly: Only one room down the hall Keith and Mikey were sat on a sofa, quietly talking to each other as Stephen lied on the other sofa with his eyes closed. He greeted his friends, the boys returning ‘hi’s and ‘hey’s and Stephen slowly blinked his eyes open, smiling at him before sitting up to make space on the sofa he was occupying. He yawned, stretching his arms and patted the spot next to him, motioning for his friend to take a seat. Ronan returned the smile and took him up on the offer.

As Ronan sat down, his friends continued their conversation, so he shifted his focus to Stephen sitting next to him. He seemed very tired - understandably of course. The clock was nearing midnight and they'd been at the studio since... noon probably. They undeniably tended to lose track of time sometimes.

"Sorry for disturbing you", he smiled at the older boy.

"'S alright", Stephen yawned, "wasn't really sleepin’ anyway".

"You can lay back down y'know", he offered, "I bet we’re done soon".

"Thanks, but I'll be alright", he declined chuckling. "Talk to me though, or I’ll fall asleep again"

"You know I wouldn't mind. I am quite tired myself"

"All of us are I guess, but I need better entertainment than hearing the same terrible song over and over again, so come on."

Ro chuckled, but obliged and started to talk to his friend about the album they were currently working on, but after a while Stephen’s attentiveness lessened and he soon started to drift off anyway. The younger boy looked at his friend curled up on the other half of the sofa, looking peaceful in his sleep. Ro couldn’t help taking his hoodie, which had been lying in his lap over the duration of their talk, and gently wrapped it around his sleeping friend. With his already slightly smaller friends curled up like this the - in his eyes rather small - article of clothing covered a lot of his body. Ro’s heart did a little flip at the sight before him. He played it off, blaming his tiredness.

Turning around to face the rest of his friends, who had payed no attention to Steo or him, and joined their conversation. They hadn't been talking for too long when finally Shane entered the room. The sound producer followed and told the guys the usual: How great of a job they did today, what they were planning on doing the next time, etc., etc. before wishing them a good night and telling them to get home safely. They four of them said goodbye to him and Shane came over to them. The three that where awake stood up, some of them stretching their sore limbs and a few yawning. Yeah, it was very late. They should probably get home and into their beds soon.

"Who will wake him up?" Mikey asked his friends, pointing at Stephen. "I'm not feeling particularly suicidal right now, so I'll just head out and start up the car."

"I can't seem to find my mobile phone", Keith said, while not so subtly slipping the device into his pocket "Shane, come help me look for it in the lounge" and the two of them disappeared down the hallway, leaving Ronan alone in the room with the sleeping boy.

The youngest rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics. Sure, sometimes Stephen got a little whiny and bitchy when somebody tried to wake him up, but he wasn't close to being as bad as some of the others, especially Mikey. So Ro walked up to him, kneeling next to the couch in front of the other’s sleeping form. He gently shook his shoulder. The older boy blinked one eye open, looking at his friend, before letting out a little grumble, snuggling into the hoodie-blanket.

"Come on, Steo, we're going home now", Ro softly chuckled.

"Really?" he asked, his eyes still closed. 

"Yup."

"Finally!" he opened his eyes, stretching.

"Well, come on", Ronan tried making his friend move.

"Ugh, fine, but I'm keeping this", he said holding up his hoodie. "It's warm and it smells good", he mumbled the last part more to himself, but the younger boy heard him anyway.

"Okay, okay, you can" he said holding up his hands in a playful, defensive gesture.

Stephen yawned again, but willingly trudged behind his friend as the younger boy led them to the parking garage, meeting Keith and Shane at the elevator and the four of them walked up to the car. Due to a problem with Keith’s car earlier that day they had all driven to work in Mikey’s car. Luckily the car was quiet spacious so even though it was a five seater all of the boys fit into it comfortably. After a little childish argument Keith ended up riding shotgun, which left the remaining three boys to squeeze into take the backseat. The friends climbed into the car and started their journey home.

Not long after the car left the parking garage, Stephen, who had taken the middle seat, was starting to fall asleep again. The quiet rumble of the engine and the soft music coming from the radio, combined with the considerable darkness in the car just made him doze off. It was late and he'd been up for almost 30 hours at this point. He just felt so comfortable right now, Ronan’s hoodie surrounding the boy with warmth and his friend’s comforting smell. Stephen couldn't help himself when he drifted off, subconsciously leaning into Ronan’s side.

Ronan was a little startled at first when he felt Stephen’s weight on his shoulder, but he soon relaxed, the feeling of the older boy’s warmth pressed into his side staying in focus of his mind. He looked down at the other and smiled contently, automatically wrapping his arm around him to make the two of them more comfortable. He yawned a little and leaned his head back, closing his eyes - for only a second as he told himself, which quickly turned into him falling asleep as well, his head slipping down onto Stephen’s. 

When Mikey glanced into his rearview mirror at a stop light he wasn’t surprised to see Shane absentmindedly starring out the window, but what he didn't expect to see was two other boys, asleep and cuddled up to each other. He chuckled softly and went to slap Keith's arm to draw his attention to their friends, but found the boy in his passenger seat also fast asleep. Mikey turned his attention back onto the still red traffic light, shaking his head to himself, a fond smile on his lips.

When Mikey pulled the car into their garage he turned off the engine and softly shook Keith’s shoulder to wake him. The two of them exited the car and met Shane, who had already gotten out and was stretching his tired limbs.  
"What about Ro and Steo?" Shane asked, confused that the two other boys hadn’t exited the vehicle yet. 

"Fell asleep in the back, but I already have a plan on how to wake them up" Mike grinned at his friends.  
The was perfect. He opened the car's driver side door, reaching his arm inside towards the steering wheel, while Keith got out his phone and pointed his camera at the two sleeping figures in the backseat. He shot Mikey a thumbs up and the oldest pressed down on his car horn. The scene unfolding in front of them consequently was perfect: Stephen and Ronan’s eyes snapped open simultaneously and the two of them automatically tried getting up, which resulted in Steo hitting his head on the other’s jaw, who in turn hit his head on the roof of the car. The three other boys were laughing their asses off, while the two, still in the car, looked around confused, subconsciously holding on to their heads. Finally taking notice of their friends close to peeing themselves from laughter. Stephen put two and two together and realized what happened. He turned to glance beside him and sure enough found Ro looking at him, a confused look on his face. He winced a "sorry" at the younger boy, who answered "It’s alright" and the two of them exchanged sheepish grins. Stephen's expression then changed to one of anger as he got out of the car to face the still laughing boys. 

"Fuck you guys!" he growled at them, only spurring on their laughter. 

"Sorry, bud, but snoozers are losers!" Keith laughed at him  
He retorted to hitting him on the back of the head – like a scolding mother - and went up to Ronan, pulling him out of the garage and into the house loudly proclaiming "Come on, we don't need those assholes", though a grin spread on his face, as he realized the hilariousness of the situation. The two of them made their way up the stairs to the bedrooms, still able to hear the laughter from the garage. Arriving at their bedroom doors Stephen faced his friend, smiling at him as they exchanged good nights. Ronan was about to close his door behind his back when he heard Stephen calling out to him from across the hall.

"Hey, Ro?"

"Yeah"

"You know I meant it when I said I was keeping this", he said, gesturing to the younger boy’s hoodie, "You're definitely not getting it back - way too comfortable", he grinned.

"Nothing I can do about that?" Ronan asked, returning the grin.

"Nope!"

"Well, I guess then I'll just have to accept that", he shrugged playfully.

"Exactly!" Stephen laughed, "Good night, Ro."

"Good night, Steo", he smiled at the other boy as he pulled the door closed behind himself, chuckling as the retreated to his own bed. He really didn't mind if Stephen kept his hoodie, because if he was being honest with himself, he kind of liked seeing the other boy wearing it - but that was probably just the tiredness talking.


End file.
